"[Jesus Christ] was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification" (Romans 4:25)

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Bad Theology Alert: Guess the Book!

UPDATE: Here's the Answer...

Captivating, by John and Stasi Eldredge

Guess what book these quotes are from… Nope not the Da Vinci Code with the concept of the “divine feminine”…No…not the book of Oprah fame called The Secret. Here’s a hint, it is labeled as a “Christian” book. And it is was published by Thomas Nelson Books 4/7/2005. AND it's really popular in Christian circles.

[I've put them in categories to show what errors I see in the book]

(1) Postmodern

He [the Son of God] came to restore the glorious creature that you are. And then set you free . . . to be yourself (pg. 95).”

(2) Divine Feminine?

“The essence of a woman is Beauty. She is meant to be the incarnation our experience in human form of a Captivating God (pg. 130)."

“[woman] is the crescendo, the final, astonishing work of God (25).”

(3) Open Theism

“The same holds true for Mary, the mother of Jesus only it’s far, far more weighty. Her life also turned on an invitation. The angel came as the courier of the King. But still, she needed to say yes. [God] would not force the whole thing upon her. Her heart needed to be willing (pg. 203).”

“And of course the salvation of mankind rested on the courage of a woman, a teenage girl. What if she had said no? (pg. 204).”

(4) An Image Of A Needy God Based Off Of Sinful Humans' Neediness??

“How many of you see God as longing to be loved by you? We see Him as strong and powerful, but not as needing us, vulnerable to us, yearning to be desired (pp. 28-29).”

“God longs to be desired. Just as a woman longs to be desired (pg. 29).”

“It might come as a surprise that Christ asks our permission to come in and heal, but He is kind, and the door is shut from the inside, and healing never comes against our will. In order to experience His healing, we must also give Him permission to come into the places we have so long shut to anyone (pg. 100).”

(5) A Hole In God's Heart??

"You’ve probably heard that there is in every human heart a place that God alone can fill. . . . But what the old poet was saying was that there is also in God’s heart a place that you alone can fill. 'It follows that there is a chamber in God Himself, into which none can enter but one, the individual.' You. You are meant to fill a place in the heart of God no one and nothing else can fill. Whoa. He longs for you (pg. 120).”

(6) This Lover Imagery is Irreverant, Unbiblical, and Sickening!

“What would it be like to experience for yourself that the truest thing about his heart toward yours is not disappointment or disapproval but deep, fiery, passionate love? (113).”

“We must choose to open our hearts again so that we might hear his whispers, receive his kisses (116).”

3 comments:

Hey Noah, I don't have my own copy of the book so I can't reference it but I remember being most disturbed by this concept introduced in Captivating: that Satan's greatest enemy is a woman because she is beautiful and he wants to be beautiful. WHAT??!?!

When I read this book I remember thinking that the Eldriges need to be accountable to some sort of biblical theologan.